FIT2002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Adaptive Software Development, Stakeholder Management, Spiral Model
31 May 2018
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Learning Objectives
•Describe the systems view of project management and how it
applies to information technology (IT) projects
•Understand organisations, including the four frames, organisational
structures and organisation culture
!
Projects cannot be run in isolation:
•If project managers lead projects in isolation it will never serve the
organisation needs
•Projects must operate in a broad organisational environment
•Project managers need to use system thinking: (especially in
complex situation)
◦Taking a holistic view of carrying out projects within the context
of the organisation - top management and project manager
must follow a system philosophy, to understand how projects
relate to the whole organisation to see how it fits into the larger
organisation
•Senior managers must make sure projects continue to support
current business needs
!
A Systems View of Project Management:
•A systems approach emerged in the 1950s to describe a more
analytical approach to management and problem solving
•Three parts:
◦Systems Philosophy: an overall model for thinking about things
as system
◦Systems Analysis: a problem-solving approach, involves
defining scope and dividing into components and identify and
evaluating its problems, opportunities, constraints and needs,
once completed alternative solutions are considered and finally
to identify a satisfactory or optimal solution or action plan
◦Systems Management: address business, technological and
organisational issues before making changed to systems
•System: sets of interacting components that work
together in an environment to achieve a common
purpose of goal
Perspectives on Organisations
!
Organisation Frames:
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find more resources at oneclass.com
•Structural Frame:
◦Roles and responsibilities coordination and control
◦Organisational charts help describe this frame
•Human Resource Frame:
◦Providing harmony between needs of the organisation and
needs of people
•Political Frame:
◦Coalitions composed of varied individuals and interest groups
◦Conflict and power are key issues
•Symbolic Frame:
◦Symbols and meanings related to events
◦Culture, language, traditions, and image are all parts of this
frame
!
Project Failure:
•Culture within many organisations is often to blame
•Among other things, people do not discuss important leadership,
stakeholder, and risk management issues
!
Organisational Structures:
•3 basic organisation structures:
◦Functional: functional managers report to the CEO
◦Project: program managers report to the CEO
◦Matrix: middle ground between functional and project
structures; personnel often report to two or more bosses;
structure can be weak, balanced, or strong matrix
!
Organisational Culture:
•Organisational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values, and
behaviours that characterize the functioning of an organisation
•Many experts believe the underlying causes of many companies'
problems are not the structure or staff… but the culture
•Same organisation can have different sub-cultures
!
Ten Characteristics of Organisational Culture:
•Project work is most successful in an organisational culture where
these items are strong/high:
◦Member identity: the degree to which employees identify with
the organisations as a whole rather than the type of job or
profession within the organisation
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find more resources at oneclass.com
◦Group emphasis: the degree to which group activities are
organised around groups or teams rather than individuals
◦Risk tolerance
◦Reward criteria
◦Conflict tolerance
◦Unit integration
◦Open systems focus
•Project work is most successful in an organisational culture where
these items are balanced:
◦People focus
◦Means-ends orientation
◦Control
!Learning Objectives:
•Explain why stakeholder management and top management
commitment are critical for a project's success
•Understand the concept of a project phase and the project life cycle,
and distinguish between project development and product
development
Stakeholder Management:
•Project managers must take time to identify, understand, and mange
relationships with all project stakeholders
•Internal Stakeholder: project sponsors, project team, support staff,
internal customers of the project, top management, or other
functional managers and other project managers
•External Stakeholder: project customers external to organisation,
competitors, suppliers, other external groups
•Using the four frames of organisation can help meet stakeholder
needs and expectations
•Senior executives/top management are very important stakeholders
•Project Stakeholder Management will be covered in greater depth in
Lecture 9
!
Importance of Top Management Commitment:
•People in top management positions are key stakeholders in
projects
•A very important factor in helping project managers successfully
lead projects is the level of commitment and support they receive
from top management
•Without top management commitment, many projects will fail
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Learning objectives: describe the systems view of project management and how it applies to information technology (it) projects, understand organisations, including the four frames, organisational structures and organisation culture. If project managers lead projects in isolation it will never serve the organisation needs. Projects must operate in a broad organisational environment. Senior managers must make sure projects continue to support current business needs. A systems approach emerged in the 1950s to describe a more analytical approach to management and problem solving. System: sets of interacting components that work together in an environment to achieve a common purpose of goal. Structural frame: roles and responsibilities coordination and control, organisational charts help describe this frame, human resource frame, providing harmony between needs of the organisation and needs of people. Political frame: coalitions composed of varied individuals and interest groups, con ict and power are key issues.
